Shrew

[Diane]

It's funny how so many people believe that they have some sort of legitimate background in Shakespearian literature just beacuse they were in the play back in high school....ha!!...and even worse - so many of you haven't even read the play - you decided that hollywood would do a good enough job of replicating the play and just watched the movie - HOW TYPICAL!!<br>While reading the responses I found it incredibly sad to see so many women who were willing to put down another woman in her quest to deconstruct the patriarchy and do away with the mysognistic ideals that obviously run rampant in Taming of the Shrew. <br>Wow, I am sorry Polly but it looks like the media, the men in power and literature such as the aforementioned play has been successful in making women believe that sexism is acceptable. I totally understand what Polly is saying. The literature of Shakespeare is genius (I dont' say "Shakespeare the man, because many scholars suggest that Shakespear's works were actually written by a group of people...) and the majority of his plays will always be seen as vital components of the canon. We need to be careful however, in accepting EVERYTHING he has ever said or written. Shakespeare isn't perfect, and thats okay, we dont' have to think any less of him. Step back before you attack; don't you want to live in a sexist free world??????

[Hayley]

whether this play is sexist or not is up to the director. it can be taken as a woman being beaten down and destroyed, or as a woman learning to take the system and use it for her own advantage. <br>personaly, i think kate seems much happier at the end of the play than the begining.<br>everyone will interpret a play a little differently and no reading is more right than any of the others. You get out of it what is put into you. <br>Polly should not be condemmed because she takes it to mean one thing, but perhaps censured for telling others that they can't understand it the way they choose too. Isn't feminism all about choice?

[Unregistered]

Dont get your knickers in a twist love, I'm a women too but I dont find the taming of the shrew the least bit offensive, Shakespeare didnt write this play because he was sexist, he was just telling a story about situations that were quite common in his time, hes not agreeing with the way women were treated, in fact I think he questions it. Its just a light hearted play that was not meant to be taken too serouisly.<br>Regards xx

[Unregistered]

The last commentary hit the nail on the head! Don't be so serious ... it's Kate who tamed the mad Petruchio!

[Unregistered]

Are you saying that any Shakespeare with themes and views that differ from modern day politics should never be performed? Perhaps you would prefer to burn them?

[poopoo]

this play is an awsome play, get a grip, just because the play depicts something that was resolved 100 years ago, doesnt mean that we cant laugh about it now

[Unregistered]

I second all of the opinions above ecept for those that are downright demeaning.

[Aubri]

I can understand about you thinking that the Taming of the Shrew is an insult, but how wrong you are. Don't you see that, even though Petruchio married for money, he still loved Katherina? Can't you understand, that he left that great wedding feast, and "starved" her, just so he could help her rise to her full potencial? Don't you see the trust he must have had in her to bet on her loyalty? He only wanted all those other men to see that Katherina was not the shrew they thought she was. He stood up for her, he put his trust in her, he did not merely toy with her; in fact, if you will read at the end of act 4, scene 1, you will see that he wants a different solution to "tame" her, because it is hard on him.<br>Do not discredit this play, because if teaches the divinity of women; learn something from it.<br>Sincerely,<br>Aubri

[Unregistered]

I agree with you diane; I mean, how DARE other people besides the ones you agree with express their opinion to someone else's opinion. Isn't that just criminal? As for leaving the Taming of the Shrew in the past, that would make life so boring: nothing for feminists to express their feminist views onyou understand. And I didn't know that Shakespeare was resurrecting the Taming of the Shrew. Perhaps he'll resurrect himself and give us an answer to the vital question of whether he was or wasn't a feminist?

[Unregistered]

Get over yourself. Place the play in its time and place. Youre a true dolt if you really believe that this play illustrates that. You obviously have ZERO grasp of The Bard. And your ignorant comments illustrate that.<br><br>Kate was tamed because she was IN LOVE with Petruccio. What a dolt you are.<br><br>Sean

[shrewling]

Your post was beautifully written. I enjoyed it, and have always felt exactly the way that you do, but could never have put it so eloquently. <br><br>

[francis gilbert]

you need some taming topic starter!<br>why do young people today have the need to attack the past?<br>shakespeare IS history. that is what happened then. it is a sexist play but not just to women. there are many good quotes that i cannot be bothered to find right now, somewhere out there in that great book that brang me so much joy reading and re-reading as a child, are quotes that portray the men as gluttenous pigs, and much more stupid than any of the women, who are given quick comeback lines and witty speeches<br><br>Before you attack the generation of the past, remember that it IS the past.<br>and although it should be left when and where it is, we should still learn about it, or mr.garrly yoshomoto would be out of a history teaching job!<br><br>haha ha, do you find me very amusing?<br>i find myself hilarious<br><br>ol' gilbie

[Unregistered]

i think that this polly person is a hardcore feminist who needs to loosen up.. i do feel that shakespeare is a very boring topic and i dont see why we have to learn about something that happened so many years ago.. this lady needs to concentrate on the better things in life reather than fighting for lsebian rights

[anon]

we agree with everyone else on this. this play is not offensive to women. it just shows that women have the right to say what they think and not have to hold back because of their situation! <br>we believe you have a serious problem if you look at thing this way. not everything is as it seem. not everything is sexist to women. some are even promotiong the greatness of women. what women cab achieve.<br>but in all fairness everyone is allowed to have an opinion, but in this fact we disagree with yours.

[Polly]

Taming of the Shrew is sexist, insulting, totally irrelevant and should not have been performed in the last century. It is quite frightening that in this day and age people actually find humour in a woman being mentally abused and starved in to submission by an obnoxious, egotistical nightmare of a husband who was only after her money anyway. Forcing women into marriage is NOT funny. Men who place bets on their wives should not be rewarded. Women are not on this planet purely for the ammusment of men. Have we forgoten that women died to promote this fact? Must we take such a massive step back in time? It is shocking that women had to actually protest to gain the right to vote, and not that long ago either. Performing the Shrew today is a disgrace to modern culture. Gone are the days when we can laugh about "a silly little women who should know her place". I'm sure the shrew was hilarious 200 years ago, and that is where it belongs. Much of Shakepeare's work is timeless, wonderful, deep and very funny, but sorry Will, the Shrew is dead. PLEASE stop resurecting it. sincerely, Polly, Theater Marketeer.